‘Setting boundaries with your partner. That’s what’s up!’: This TikTok account is teaching Gen Z men all about positive masculinity

Many schools and colleges are underperforming when it comes to sex education. Going beyond the classroom condoms-and-bananas approach, a group of students have taken it upon themselves to deliver sex ed, TikTok-style. 

The TikTok account @sexedforguys, which has more than 117,000 followers, started as a school project by four students at Colby College, a private liberal arts school in Maine. Launched in 2022, the account features skits tackling consent, toxic masculinity, and homophobia—essential lessons in a time when manosphere content is flooding For You Pages and Gen Z boys and men are more likely than baby boomers to believe that feminism has done more harm than good.

The channel began as part of a study on privilege at elite all-boys schools, led by professor Adam Howard, chair of Colby’s education department. His research highlights how these institutions often fall short—especially when it comes to sex education. While working with student researchers, Howard asked how they could best share their findings. Their answer? TikTok. 

Howard told Rolling Stone that TikTok was the perfect platform for sharing his research for two reasons: First, that’s where young people are (55% of TikTok users are younger than 30). Second, it provides a much-needed counternarrative to some of the worst content on the app.

“Guys could be scrolling through their TikTok and Andrew Tate will pop up, but as they scroll maybe Sex Ed for Guys will pop up and it’ll start having them think a little bit differently,” Christopher Maichin, a 20-year-old junior at Colby, told Rolling Stone. “I think the greatest part of it is that they are getting education without even knowing it. They’re watching a funny video but they’re learning about consent.” 

Several of the TikTok account’s videos have gone viral, including “Respecting Women Workout” (which has 11 million-plus views) and the game “That’s What’s Up!/What’s Up With That?” (which has more than 3 million views).

“Setting boundaries with your partner: That’s what’s up! Backflips: That’s what’s up! Using racial and homophobic slurs: What’s up with that?” the boys say to the camera. Their video goes on to praise the 2013 Florida Gulf Coast March of Madness run, night-vision goggles, and “asking your partner about their day.”

“This is unironically how we defeat the alt-right pipeline,” one user commented under the video. Another wrote: “this could actually save america.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/91307441/setting-boundaries-with-your-partner-thats-whats-up-this-tiktok-account-is-teaching-gen-z-men-all-about-positive-masculinity?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss